Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05ANKARA6316
2005-10-19 10:07:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Ankara
Cable title:  

TURKEY: EDUCATION COUNCIL PRESIDENT SUPPORTS

Tags:  PGOV PREL PHUM TU OSCE 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 006316 

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/19/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM TU OSCE
SUBJECT: TURKEY: EDUCATION COUNCIL PRESIDENT SUPPORTS
REOPENING OF HALKI


Classified by CDA Nancy McEldowney; reasons 1.4 b and d.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 006316

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/19/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM TU OSCE
SUBJECT: TURKEY: EDUCATION COUNCIL PRESIDENT SUPPORTS
REOPENING OF HALKI


Classified by CDA Nancy McEldowney; reasons 1.4 b and d.


1. (U) Summary: Erdogan Tezic, president of Turkey's Higher
Education Council (YOK),told Charge during an October 17
meeting that he supports the reopening of the Halki seminary,
and believes a solution can be found if Greece and Turkey
discuss their respective religious minorities. He said Halki
should not/not be under YOK authority, but could be
supervised by the Education Ministry. Tezic said an exchange
program with the State University of New York is currently
blocked until a legal framework can be arranged. End
Summary.

--------------
Halki Tied to Greece-Turkey Relations
--------------


2. (U) Charge asked Tezic for his views on the possibility of
reopening the Ecumenical Patriarchate's Halki Seminary,
closed since 1971. Despite the many reforms adopted by the
GOT in recent years, Halki continues to be a symbol of
restrictions on religious freedom.


3. (U) Tezic averred that "no one is more sorry than I" for
the decline of Turkey's Greek Orthodox population (now
numbering fewer than 2,500). He recalled that he studied
both Latin and classical Greek, and has several friends who
are former Orthodox priests.


4. (U) Tezic said Halki could be reopened as a higher
education institution under the Ministry of Education, but
not under YOK. The GOT would be prepared to recognize it as
an institution offering a one-year degree, though studies
would last three or four years (he did not explain why the
GOT would only recognize a one-year degree). He claimed that
the Ecumenical Patriarch accepts this idea.


5. (U) Tezic said Halki could not be placed under YOK for a
variety of reasons. YOK does not recognize any one-year
institutions, nor does it oversee religious institutions. If
Halki were under YOK, admissions would have to be based on
the standardized university entrance exams, which would not
be appropriate for a seminary.


6. (U) To make this arrangement work, he said, the
Patriarchate would have to manage Halki through a foundation.

In this way, the Education Ministry would inspect the
foundation, but not the Patriarchate itself. Tezic
acknowledged that the Patriarch opposes the idea of running
Halki through a foundation. (Note: Patriarchate officials
have told us they cannot accept the idea of exercising their
historical authority over Halki through a foundation, or
reducing the Patriarch to a foundation board president. End
Note.)


7. (U) Before such a legal arrangement can be worked out,
however, progress must be made on the political problems that
serve as the foundation of the Halki issue, Tezic said. In
the past, Greece permitted Turkey to supply the Celal Bayar
high school in Thrace with books and teachers, and Turkey, in
exchange, allowed Greece to support the Greek high schools in
Istanbul. After the emergence of Turkish-Greek conflict in
1955, however, both sides failed to meet their obligations.
If these exchanges could be resumed, it would provide
political cover for reopening Halki. Tezic said Turkey and
Greece need to discuss these issues bilaterally, outside of
the EU context, and agree on reciprocal steps to remove
restrictions on their respective religious minorities. The
U.S. can play a role, particularly by pressing Greece to take
up the issue.

--------------
SUNY Exchange Program Faces Legal Hurdle
--------------


8. (U) Charge noted that the USG places a high priority on
education in its relations with Turkey. The U.S. spent USD
15 million on education programs in Turkey in the past six
months alone. Most of these programs are focused on
disadvantaged families in rural areas, but some involve poor
families in urban areas. She noted that the USG has tripled
the size of Turkey's Fulbright program in the past two years,
and that the Turkey program now receives more USG funding
than any in the world. We want to continue these types of
educational exchanges, and expand them whenever possible.


9. (U) Charge said the exchange program between YOK and the
State University of New York (SUNY) got off to a good start
in 2003. Under one part of the program, students from
Turkey's economically depressed southeast have been placed in
the SUNY system. However, YOK has not been able to continue
the scholarships necessary to maintain the program. She
asked what the Embassy can do to help get the program back on
track.


10. (U) Tezic described himself as a strong supporter of the
SUNY program in general, including the initiative for the
southeast, which he said he would try to revive. However,
complications over the legal/regulatory framework have
blocked the program for the time being. Because the program
involves expenditures for teachers' salaries, and because it
involves transferring funds to the U.S., he approached the
Finance Ministry last year and asked officials there to
establish a legal arrangement that would cover the program.
The Finance Ministry advised him to develop a regulation,
which he did.


11. (U) However, he is unsure whether the regulation provides
sufficient legal authority, given that there is no provision
in Turkish law covering the types of expenditures involved in
the program. Tezic said a finance/tax expert is currently
reviewing the regulation and will report to him shortly. If
the expert advises him that he can proceed with the program
under the regulation, he will raise the matter next week with
the YOK assembly and ask for their backing. Tezic said he
wants to avoid any possible charges of malfeasance, noting
that police recently arrested the president of Van University
in a case related to university expenditures. Tezic said
this is an internal GOT matter, and there is nothing the
Embassy can do to help.

--------------
Comment: Fresh Approach on Halki
--------------


12. (C) There is no shortage of broad ideas for resolving the
Halki situation; roughly once a month the press quotes a GOT
official promising an imminent breakthrough based on a
sketchy premise. But these reports will be mirages as long
as there continues to be no regular dialogue between the GOT
and the Patriarchate (let alone between the GOT and the Greek
Government). Neither the GOT nor the Patriarchate can open
the seminary unilaterally. If there were a regular give and
take, we would eventually learn how far the parties were
willing to compromise, and the details of an arrangement
could be worked out.


13. (C) With Turkey's EU accession talks finally underway, we
are looking for ways to encourage a fresh approach to this
long-dormant issue. We would be interested in Embassy
Athens' and Department views on the efficacy of a coordinated
approach to the Turkish and Greek governments. One option is
to pursue simultaneous action by Athens and Ankara on
parallel tracks. For example, we could press the GOT to
engage the GOG in a dialogue aimed at allowing the GOT's
Religious Affairs Directorate to open a mosque in Athens, in
exchange for which the GOT would negotiate with the
Patriarchate an agreement for reopening Halki. Such an
agreement would provide mutual cover for each party to
compromise on a controversial issue. Though we reject the
idea that the rights of the two minorities are linked, both
governments insist on linking them politically. With this
approach, we would be pressing them to link them in a way
that leads to a mutual solution.
MCELDOWNEY